Equestrian Australia’s Endurance Committee (EAEC) is keen to gather feedback from current, past and prospective FEI Officials & Veterinarians to understand the benefits and barriers to becoming an FEI Endurance Official. 

Becoming an FEI Official and participating in this great sport can be personally rewarding in many ways. Our sport values your contribution, without your efforts our exceptional riders and homegrown, talented horses have very limited opportunities to be able to compete on the International stage. 

We hope you will assist us in understanding how we can build on our pool of FEI Endurance Officials by providing feedback through this survey. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/QTMJCTM

The AERA wishes to congratulate Andrea (Ondy) Laws-King riding Heathfield’s Bin Sadaqa on her successful completion at the World Endurance Championships (WEC) in Pisa, Italy.

Ondy finished the 160km race in 24th place – a fantastic achievement!

You can read more about Ondy’s WEC experience in the article by Equestrian Australia, here. If you missed Ondy’s pre-race bio, you can catch up here.

Photo above: Ondy and team. Sourced from Equestrian Australia.

The results of the FEI Endurance Australia Survey are in and we have heard you!

THE RESULTS:

• 58 Endurance Riders want to compete in FEI events.
• There are a variety of reasons, including to; compete against the New Zealanders in a Trans-Tasman, experience competing against international riders here in Australia and overseas, and to qualify for international endurance events.
• The minimum rides that the respondents would need to make it worthwhile for membership/documentation 51% would require 3-4 rides and 40% would like 5 rides or more. 29% of respondents would consider sponsoring these rides.

There are a number of Clubs that are interested in holding these events and three that have committed – Toft Endurance, Bullio & Bom Bom. See the AERA calendar for dates and events. As these events require additional administration with EA & FEI requirements, they also have additional costs and official requirements. Without a good pool of horses and riders it can be difficult to hold these events.

For those 58 riders that are keen to get behind these rides please review the requirements and if you have any questions contact EA directly when completing what you and your horse requires to compete at these events  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call on (02) 8762-7011. We are also here to help for general enquires This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Next steps will be a survey to hear from current, past and prospective Clubs and Officials. These rides cannot happen without a dedicated qualified team of Officials, for more information on how to contribute to this great sport and become an official or renew your qualifications please contact Robyn Parnell This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Our magnificent horses and riders have in the past and continue to perform incredibly on the international stage. Our aim is to foster an environment to encourage as many horses and riders to continue Australia’s strong International legacy in Endurance.

Those that have answered YES we look forward seeing you and your horse at an event soon.

Chris Bailey, Robyn Parnell, Jane Radny, Naomi O’Shaughnessy, Darien Feary & Sonya Ryan
Equestrian Australia Endurance Committee

Andrea Laws-King has been riding endurance since 1993 and has completed 11,857 successful competition kilometres in Australia. However, she has always had a passion for FEI Competition.

When her daughter Sasha Savage (nee Laws-King) was a little girl, Andrea competed at the World Championships in Kansas in 1996, and then in 1998 at the Pan American Championships in Oregon.

When Sasha was 10 years old she started to ride endurance. In those days she was able to compete as a Junior alongside her Mum, her rode FEI. Some of these rides were held in Canberra and even Windorah in outback Australia. It was not long before Sasha was old enough to compete in FEI competitions. She qualified for the 2003 Young Riders World Championships in Rome, in the year she turned 14, and was the only Australian rider.

When Sasha started to shine in her teens as a talented endurance rider, and was busy studying at school and university, Andrea took a step back from competitions. Andrea had great pleasure training horses and being Sasha’s groom at local and International competitions. Sasha was selected
to ride at the Young Riders World Championships in Bahrain in 2005 where she was a member of the Gold Medal winning team. In 2007 she rode in the Australian Young Riders Endurance team in Argentina.

Once a senior, Sasha was a successful competitor in the Australian team in 2014 to ride at the World Equestrian Games in Normandy, France and then again in Slovakia at the World Endurance Championships in 2016.

Obviously with a daughter who is an International rider, Andrea is no stranger to overseas competitions. On one overseas trip Sasha successfully completed 3 FEI 3 star rides in three successive weeks in South Africa, New Mexico, USA and Montquc, France in that order! It was not long before Sasha qualified as an Elite FEI endurance rider.

When Sasha was working hard as a Veterinary Surgeon, Andrea was still busy training horses for her, however Andrea made a point of maintaining her FEI qualifications. She made the long trip to Western Australia on one occasion with one of her horses, where she won the FEI 3 star 160km ride.

Andrea had been chosen to represent Australia in 2012 at the World Endurance Championships at Euston Park, England but alas an accident prevented her travelling.

In 2016, Andrea sent her home bred horse Heathfield’s Bin Sadaqa (Chip Chase Sadaqa x Shah Dara) to France to be trained for Sasha. Andrea’s yarning to ride in the beautiful English countryside sent her to Euston Park in 2019 for the 160km FEI 3 star ride on Heathfield’s Bin Sadaqa, which was their qualifying ride for the World Championships.

Andrea is the only Australian competing at the FEI Longines World Endurance Championships in Pisa, Italy on 22nd May, 2021.

The AERA would like to congratulate Littlebanks Troubadour on being awarded the 2020 Arabian Horse Society of Australia Endurance Horse of the Year award. 

 Angela Clark has been campaigning Littlebanks Troubador successfully within Tasmania for a few years now and a more detailed profile will be available in the near future.  Congratulations to both Angela and Littlebanks Troubador on this achievement.

Littlebanks Troubadour at home. Looking the picture of health!

AERA would like to extend its sincere and warm condolences to the Sheehan family on the passing of Brian yesterday.  Brian was a very much loved member of our endurance family and championed the cause of horse welfare in all his actions.  His ever-present smile, his words of wisdom, his ability to treat everybody equally and his knowledge will be very sadly missed.  We remember his considerable contribution to endurance both in Australia and internationally and recognise his never ending drive to improve endurance.  Rest in Peace Brian. 

Image above by FEI/ Germain Arias-Schreiber.